Anorexia Treatment at Monarch Cove

Anorexia nervosa is a serious eating disorder. Specialized anorexia treatment is important for recovery, and Monarch Cove’s clinical team is expert in providing the physical and psychological care necessary, provided in a beautiful, therapeutic setting near the ocean.
Someone with anorexia nervosa has a fear of gaining weight, sees themself as overweight, and devotes each minute and each thought to thinness, even if they are already significantly underweight. Someone with anorexia nervosa will do anything necessary in order to become even thinner. They often refuse to recognize the symptoms of anorexia that they have, and their family and friends may not let themselves notice until a dangerously low body weight is reached. This is one of the real but hard facts about anorexia.
Monarch Cove has a team of certified therapists and dietitians with extensive experience in providing compassionate care for those with this difficult to manage disease. Treatment for anorexia nervosa requires a unique care plan specially designed for the issues of each client.
Someone with anorexia nervosa rarely asks for help. This is why it is so important for family and friends to recognize this eating disorder early, and encourage and support their loved one in receiving help. Our admissions and intake staff make the treatment process smooth and supported.
Knowing the facts about anorexia, and recognizing the symptoms of anorexia, are two important ways that family and friends can help get a loved one into a professional eating disorder program as soon as possible. Multiple levels of care ensure that a client with anorexia receives the right level of support at the right time.

Facts About Anorexia Nervosa & Anorexia Treatment

One out of every 200 females in the United States has anorexia nervosa, and yet only a fraction of these girls and women ever receive professional help. This is a staggering fact, and even more so when you consider that those in the 15-24 age group are twelve times more likely to die from anorexia nervosa than any other cause of death.
Anorexia isn’t just an eating disorder found among women and girls. Men and boys with anorexia nervosa are increasing in numbers, and requires professional treatment. Anorexia nervosa seems to develop from many underlying issues, although the exact reason isn’t fully understood. Recent brain imaging studies indicate that those with anorexia are able to avoid eating and keep exercising, harnessing the same willpower used in their drive as perfectionists, and that these attributes are actually structural and chemical responses in the brain. For many of those with anorexia nervosa this research is welcome, helping them understand that their behaviors are not their fault.
Regardless of the causes of the eating disorder, professional anorexia treatment by a certified therapist is important for sustained recovery from anorexia nervosa.
Some of the most common underlying issues in people with anorexia nervosa are:

Recognizing the Symptoms of someone With Anorexia Nervosa

Many people are familiar with the later symptoms of anorexia since they are the most noticeable. It is easy for friends and family, and those with the disorder, to “explain away” the earlier and less noticeable ones as being a “picky eater” or having “a fast metabolism.” Many of the symptoms only the person with anorexia notices, and they won’t talk about them to loved ones. Treatment for anorexia nervosa needs to be started as soon as possible.
The more extreme the symptom, the more dangerous:

Symptoms only the person with anorexia may notice:

Extreme fear of gaining weight

Seeing themselves as very overweight, even though they are underweight

Using laxatives, enemas, and diuretics to avoid gaining weight

Over-exercising to avoid gaining weight

Taking in extremely small numbers of calories

Vomiting to get rid of calories (which is also a symptom of bulimia nervosa)

Constipation

Feeling cold

Eating only certain foods because they feel “safe” to eat in terms of not gaining weight

Feelings of isolation and depression

Avoiding meals or social gatherings which include meals

Abusing diet pills and supplements

Symptoms loved ones and friends may or may not notice:

When a child is losing weight even though they are in an age group to be increasing their height and weight

Always exercising, to the extreme

Hiding food during meals and being secretive about what they eat

Refusing to talk about food and weight

Menstrual periods stop, or in some cases may never have begun

Breasts shrink

Stop socializing or doing things they used to enjoy

Unable to eat in front of other people at restaurants or social gatherings

Weighing less than 85% of a normal body weight for a person’s height

Thin hair on the head, appearance of new, soft hair on the body and face

Dry skin

Nails that are very brittle

Low blood pressure

Lower than normal temperature

Abnormal heart rhythms

Extreme dehydration

Serious symptoms that can cause a health crisis:

Low blood pressure

Lower than normal temperature

Abnormal heart rhythms

Extreme dehydration

Anorexia Treatment Program at Monarch Cove

Our anorexia nervosa team consists of experts in the treatment of people with this complicated problem. Each client at our treatment center will have a primary therapist, dietitian, and psychiatrist coordinating his or her treatment for anorexia nervosa and co-occurring issues.
We provide medical stabilization as an important first step in our anorexia treatment program. Through medically supervised rehydration, gradual weight gain, and nutritional support, clients become ready to work on the emotional and psychological components of their eating disorder.
We work with each client to develop a personal and unique treatment plan. Emphasis is placed on helping clients:

Learn coping skills

Gain insight into what their pursuit of thinness really means

Manage anxiety that is frequently present in those with anorexia

Understand what healthy body image is

Gradual exposure to healthy eating in real-life environments as part of our continuum of treatment

Recognizing stressors and learning to handle them in a healthy, constructive way